An interview with…Sarah Crowther DAC Beachcroft

Sarah Crowther, an insurance litigator at DAC Beachcroft talks to WorkLife Central about how she balances her home and professional responsibilities, looks after her mental wellbeing and how she prepared herself for her recent transition to partnership.

CP: Sarah, you’re a litigation partner specialising in insurance, did you always want to be a lawyer?

SC: No, I really wanted to be a pathologist but a fear of blood put me off doing a medical degree. I have parents, grandparents, uncles and cousins in the police force so being a lawyer was a natural second choice for me. I started my legal career doing animal cruelty prosecutions for the RSPCA, then moved on to commercial litigation before finding insurance.

CP: As you look back over your career so far, what skills and competencies have you developed that you find most valuable in your role?

SC: Resilience and flexibility are key as things are evolving constantly and you have to be ready and willing to adapt. Once you reach a leadership position empathy becomes an absolute must - emotional intelligence is becoming more and more important.

CP: You were promoted to partner in May 2019, congratulations! We hear that the transition to partner can be an intense process: how was it for you and how did you prepare yourself?

SC: Thank you! Yes, it was an intense process but I was fortunate that my firm has a partnership track which supports those applying for promotion and provides training along the way. The biggest issue I faced during the process was self-doubt. I went to see a fantastic life coach who helped me overcome that with hypnotherapy which worked immediately despite my initial cynicism. The most importing thing for me was having the support of a mentor and I was very lucky in that respect. Ideally everyone should consider having a mentor and being a mentor to others.

CP: How do you balance your career and professional responsibilities along with your home life?

SC: My husband works for himself from home which makes childcare a lot easier to manage. I work a day per week from home too so between us we have a great balance - without the ability to work flexibly I am not sure how I would manage it.

CP: How do you look after your physical and mental wellbeing?

SC: I go to weekly yoga sessions at work and I have an exercise bike and rower in my garage which I force myself to use a couple of times a week. I am part of the Wellbeing Committee for our London office so I am always on the lookout for new wellbeing initiatives to try. Recently, I met a sophrologist at a dinner party and sophrology is now next on my list of things to try; it is a relaxation technique based on yoga, meditation and visualisation.

CP: What advice would you give to your younger self when you started out as a trainee?

SC: Nothing particularly good happens after midnight.